This year my Meyer lemon tree has lots of lemons on it. I think because I did better at watering it indoors this winter. Its in a big pot and comes in to our front porch during the winter. It can stand a mild frost and is inside from Nov to April usually. Its about 6-10 years old, I'm guessing and very pot bound as I don't have room for a bigger tree. This summer, it could use to have its roots and branches trimmed.
Sometimes I get a few fully ripened yellow lemons, but usually they stay greenish. I am assuming we don't have enough sun at this latitude to fully ripen all of the fruit it produces. It seems to bloom and set fruit all year round. I learned last year (from a a kind commentor on my blog) that it needs a lot of nitrogen, and I have been regularly fertilizing, which is making it look great.
The lemons are delicious, even when they are a bit greenish, and are wonderful in a martini!
I was on line last night (ordering a few more asparagus crowns) and came across a sale at Territorial Seed Co on fig trees and ordered one. I have to look into figs now. I imagine these have similar culture requirements to citrus. Hope I can squeeze two trees on the porch in the winter.
(If you click on the label below, you can see previous posts on my lemon tree.)
7 comments:
I just got my meyer lemon tree this year and it is in a 1 gallon pot but since it was already blooming when I got it, I did not repot it. I am hoping I get a few lemons this year but I may move it to the front porch where it will get more sun as it is in the back yard now and it is a bit shady back there.
I had a Persian lime for years. It lived on the deck in summer and came inside in winter. It was kept in a 12" pot so it was manageable but it still needed re-potting every couple of years.
If you re-pot your lemon you might consider a soil-less mix. Search Gardenweb for "Al's gritty mix", a soil-less blend that people rave about for citrus. I think I'm going to try it myself. I was in Bigelow's Nursery greenhouse last week and they had some beautiful Meyer lemons.
--Dave V.
I planted two figs in the ground in my yard. If I don't protect them during the winter supposedly they will die back to the ground, but the roots won't die. They will send up new shoots. Last winter was mild. I didn't protect them and they did indeed die back. But last winter was zone 7 not zone 6. I don't know what a normal year will bring.
And they produce figs on new and on old wood. The old wood fruits first, so ripens first. The new wood supposedly don't have enough time to ripen here. Unless of course it is in a pot and you can bring it inside. I'm going to have to protect my trees this winter if I want any figs.
Hi Kathy, nice to see that your Meyer Lemon is doing well! When we lived in MA, all of my Meyers would bloom in January through May and ripen at the same time indoors in November and December. Some of them stayed green for over 9 months but eventually they will turn!
I am in the same zone as you! I never thought about growing a lemon tree in a pot! What would be the smallest size pot you would recommend?
That looks good! Our orange tree died this winter. We were so bummed
Thank you for the suggestion and the "top plants for dorms" article. Because of these articles I purchased my first apartment plant, and yup, it's a Meyer Lemon tree =)
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